Thursday, August 13, 2009

A day in Itaewon

Itaewon is the only place in all of Korea where you will meet other black people. It is where the US Army base is. After living for a year in a small village in the south called Jinju, where I was the only black person I was overjoyed to finally make it to Itaewon in Seoul! As the bus turned toward downtown Seoul I saw black people walking on the streets. I was sooooo happy. If I were a dog I would have been wagging my tail and yapping happily. "Look Vicky! black people!" I said to my friend from Louisiana. It is as though you have become the people in the village we just left, she laughed. Seriously. I was so deprived of seeing my people for so long that it was almost like I was in awe. So we disembarked and right away, put our luggage in a storage locker at the large bus station and spent the afternoon walking around soaking in the varieties of people--light, dark, African, Indian. . .moreso than the shopping opportunities that we didn't have in Jinju. That was a great first day.